Denise+Mitchell

Teacher Disposition Evaluation
 * 1) Denise Mitchell

Basic Research Questions


 * 1) Does meeting the Department of Education “highly qualified” standards define teacher quality and effectiveness?
 * 2) In light of new research, are school districts accountable for measuring effective teaching based on the art of teaching as well as the knowledge of content?

Background

With the language of IDEA and NCLB aligned in 2004, teacher quality has become top priority of our national education policy (Singh & Stoloff, 2008)
 * 1) Current emphasis on linking teacher quality with student achievement.
 * 2) Currently pre-service teachers are evaluated on both content knowledge and dispositions

Summary of Literature Review
 * 1) Giovannelli (2003) says “an increasing number of researchers point out that teachers make a difference and that the magnitude of the at difference can be determined” (295).
 * 2) According to Hansen (2008), teacher disposition standards need to be adjusted to each particular school, district and state.
 * 3) Currently there is no consensus about the definition of teacher dispositions but there are several models (Thornton, 2006)
 * The National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE)
 * National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS)
 * Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC) INTASC_FactSheet.pdf
 * 1) Created core principles and dispositional standards that every teacher in any content should be measured against. [[file:InTASC core standards and dispositions.docx]]
 * 2) Illinois is a member state

Method

Goal
 * 1) Schulte, Edick, Edwards & Mackiel, (2006) “developed and validated a quantitative instrument or Teacher Disposition Index (TDI) that measures the dispositions of effective teachers as specified by INTASC” (1). From the TDI a Likert Scale Survey was created.
 * 2) Create a standard instrument to measure classroom and administrator disposition as it pertains to student achievement.
 * 1) Determine if the Teacher Disposition Survey is a valid research tool
 * 2) Find demographic trends among teachers

Data Analysis


 * 1) Use data to understand dispositional trends in teachers
 * 2) The trends then can be used as a baseline for further dispositional studies

New Questions
 * 1) What is a link between quality teachers and student achievement.
 * 2) What makes a quality teacher?
 * 3) What are the characteristics of quality teachers?
 * 4) Are the characteristics of quality teachers measurable?
 * 5) Are there certain dispositional characteristics that are linked to student achievement?
 * 6) How does this research effect hiring of new teachers and accountability?

Discussion Questions Teacher candidates are now measured on InTASC Standards

Answer the following survey based the InTASC Standards; reflect on your own classroom or administrative practices.

Based on the Teacher Disposition Survey, do you have a positive or negative disposition?


 * 1) Is this a valid tool to measure teacher or administrator effectiveness?
 * 2) Should teacher or administrator quality be measured on content knowledge, disposition or both?